


When it rains

by JudCute



Category: Degrassi, Degrassi: Next Class
Genre: Bullying, Esme Song has a heart, Friendship, Gen, Hiding in a car, Hope Hollingsworth Universe, I wrote this for Kelly, Muffins, Pregnant Lola Pacini, Teen Pregnancy, just talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 10:33:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22848718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JudCute/pseuds/JudCute
Summary: Lola and Esme talk in Esme's car after an unfortunate altercation in the hallways on a rainy day
Kudos: 11





	When it rains

**Author's Note:**

  * For [molaspacini](https://archiveofourown.org/users/molaspacini/gifts).



> Yes I wrote this for Kelly (who heavily edited it again thank you for deciphering my thoughts) as a gift and now I have finally posted it

Despite what others may have assumed about her, Esme did have a sense of right and wrong deep down. She just wanted respect from people before she returned it, something which was apparently too much to ask. In Esme’s eyes, the least you could do in life was admit you were as fucked up as everyone around you and not try to fake moral superiority.  
People saw Esme Song as that girl — the girl nobody would be surprised to see doing a walk of shame or coming to school with a hangover. People saw her as a way to feel better about themselves — no matter what mistakes they made, they could always look at Esme and think, “Well, at least I’m not as screwed up as her.” But Esme refused to be that character in someone else’s story. She didn’t let people use her or ignore her boundaries. She stood up for herself and she wasn’t afraid to give people a wakeup call when they needed it. Simply put, Esme was allergic to bullshit. 

And that day, Baaz Nahir was making those allergies particularly act up. 

Zig was sick today, so Esme had no one to spend lunch with. It was fine, really — she had a test to study for anyways. Since it was raining, she decided to sit in front of her locker with her science book instead of going to her usual study spot in the garden. That annoying gamer squad of Miles’ annoying brother was two lockers down from her, completely ignoring her trying to study and having an intense discussion which even out-nerded her. Suddenly, however, the group fell quiet. Esme perked her head up curiously at the silence, which was followed by the sound of some angry-sounding footsteps. 

A very pregnant Lola in a very bad mood stormed to her locker. Everyone in the hallway stopped and stared at her. It was quite a sight, such a small girl with her pregnant belly walking through school with such fire in her step. Esme didn’t have any particularly strong feelings about Lola, but she did think she was a thousand times better than that picture-perfect prude Shay. She had to admit that she’d found the little feud between Lola and Shay during that game of “never have I ever” at the Hollingsworth party months ago quite entertaining. When Lola took a sip of her drink and locked eyes with Shay at “never have I ever had sex,” Esme was rooting for her. And then Lola disappeared the whole night. And Miles was nowhere to be found either. And a couple of months after that, everyone at school could tell Lola was pregnant. What a huge coincidence it all was. 

“It’s rude to stare,” Vijay whispered to Baaz, watching as Lola angrily rifled through her locker.

“No offense, but it’s honestly her own fault,” Baaz whispered back. “I mean, what was she thinking? Getting pregnant at 16 and still showing up to school like this.”

Yael elbowed him. “Hey— give her a break! She’s my friend. And besides, she gave us more views on her last video than any of your uploads combined.” Baaz scoffed. 

“Lola was great for our channel, but let’s be honest, Yael,” he said. “I’m just saying what everyone is thinking. There’s a reason she’s pregnant and not you.” He leaned against his locker. “You have to be a… certain kind of girl to get pregnant at 16. I mean… she didn’t even have a boyfriend at the time! How horny do you have to be to sleep with someone you aren’t even dating? And now she’s stuck with a kid her whole life. You’d think she would have at least had the common sense to use protection. Even I know that you need to use a condom. The last thing Degrassi needs is a teen mom making our school look bad.”

Maybe it was the words “a certain kind of girl” that set Esme off, but something in her snapped. She stood up and locked eyes with Baaz. 

“Is that seriously the best you have?” she said loudly. Everyone stared at her, but she didn’t back down. Being subtle wasn’t exactly her style. You talk shit, you get a scene. That, to Esme, was justice.

“What?” Baaz said, caught off guard. 

Esme raised her voice, “Just because you’re a miserable virgin, everyone else should be?”

“I never said that…”

“But that’s what you meant, right? That you are leagues better than everyone else just because you, what…? Are such a terrible person nobody wants to date or kiss or even touch you? And the most sexual pleasure you get is from your own hand?” Esme said. She could feel people turning to stare at her instead of Lola, who was kind of standing there looking at Esme in awe. 

“Is this really the only way you can feel good about yourself?” Esme continued. “Talking about your friend and coworker behind her back? Because I might be a bitch, but at least I have the guts to be one upfront instead of faking being nice. You know what’s going to happen to you? In 40 years, you’ll be in a loveless marriage with a wife that won’t even touch you because you have such an archaic view of sex. She’ll probably be having an affair, complete with the high-paying job you always dreamed about... and you’ll be so miserable you’ll want to off yourself. Meanwhile, Lola’s life might not be perfect, but it will be at least 10 times better than yours.”

When Esme was done with her little speech, everyone was still staring at her. She let them stare — who cares? Baaz just stood there in silence, not even trying to muster up a response. Esme turned and dared to make eye contact with Lola, sort of expecting to see her horrified. But instead, Lola’s eyes were soft, even kind of teary. Without thinking, Esme found herself walking towards Lola and saying, “Hey, do you want some lunch? My treat.” Lola looked perplexed for a second, but nodded. Esme took her arm and escorted her away from the staring crowd.

“You okay?” Esme whispered to Lola as they neared the cafeteria. 

Lola nodded, still looking like she was about to cry. “Yeah. Just… god, people aren’t exaggerating when they talk about pregnancy hormones. Today’s just been really awful and humanity isn’t exactly helping. Like, I’ve had a really shitty day.” 

Esme nodded. While she wasn’t pregnant, she was definitely familiar with having bad days and feeling out of control. She didn’t exactly know why she was doing all this for someone she barely knew, but it felt right. Besides, it wasn’t like she had anyone else to spend the last 20 minutes of lunch with.

“What if I give you my car keys and grab you a sandwich or pizza slice or muffin or whatever, so you can have some privacy?” Esme offered. “Crying it out in a car is a bit better than storming angrily through a busy hallway. Less people to stare at you.” 

Lola just nodded blankly, accepting the keys. A few minutes later, Esme ran through the pouring rain to her car with two muffins, which Lola said she’d been majorly craving, stuffed in her bag.

“I hate the rain,” Esme said as she stepped inside her car. 

Lola gazed out the window, a pile of crumpled up tissues in her lap. “Thanks for the hiding space,” she said shyly. “I needed it.”

“No problem,” Esme said, admittedly feeling a little awkward about this whole situation herself. She handed Lola a muffin. 

“And thank you for saying something when Baaz was talking about me,” Lola said. “I mean, the part about him offing himself in 40 years went a little too far... but otherwise, I appreciate it.”

“Again, no problem,” Esme said, taking a bite of her muffin. “In fact, the pleasure was all mine.”

“The thing is,” Lola went on, “I know people are talking about me behind my back. I’m not a saint when it comes to gossiping myself. I guess I started to accept that everyone is gonna talk about me no matter what, you know?”

“You should never get used to people talking shit about you,” Esme said firmly. “You deserve better than that.”

“I know. I mean, logically I know, but I don’t always know-know... you know? It’s hard to-” Lola started, but then fell silent. 

“Why were you angry slamming your locker in the first place instead of just at lunch with your friends, anyway?” 

“I just got into an argument with Shay, that’s all,” Lola said quietly.

“Of course, it was Shay fuckin’ Powers… that little prude-” Esme mumbled, but Lola cut her off.

“Don’t talk bad about her, okay? Or make a scene with her like you did with Baaz. I shouldn’t even be telling you this. She’s still my best friend.”

“With friends like that, who needs enemies,” Esme said. She finished the rest of her muffin in one big bite.

“Shay doesn’t mean it badly,” Lola went on. “She’s a good person. And she tries… she does. She just has different values than me about sex and stuff. Her mom’s a nurse and she’s  
basically drilled it into her head that getting pregnant is the worst thing you could do. She isn’t a bad person. But sometimes she just says the wrong things and…” Lola took a deep breath.  
“And she can just be kinda judgy. She and Frankie and I made plans a long time ago to go to this water park over spring break. I’d totally forgotten about it until Shay brought it up. And I said it would be more difficult with me in… this condition. She was making all these plans like she forgot I’m pregnant or something. And her face when I brought it up… I don’t even hate the idea, but I’m not sure if my swimsuit will even fit anymore and or if it’d be safe for me, being pregnant and all. And Shay just kept staring at me with this look and I just… I couldn’t… it wasn’t even what she said, it was just that look in her eyes.”

“Well, at least when the baby gets older, you’ll have an excuse to go to waterparks. And you’ll be able to take them to theme parks and zoos and all kinds of stuff. Your time will come,” Esme tried to comfort her. She knew that pushing the whole Shay-is-a-bitch angle would only make Lola feel worse. 

Lola finally tore her eyes away from the window and towards Esme. “You’re one of the first people who doesn’t make having a baby sound like the end of the world,” she said softly.  
“I babysit my younger siblings a lot and I know how much they adore things like waterparks. Their pure, unfiltered joy is always contagious,” Esme shrugged. She paused for a second, debating whether to ask the question she’d been dying to. Oh, what the hell. “Now that we’re alone, I have to ask… it was Miles, right? The night of the party?” 

Lola didn’t even hesitate. “Yup,” she answered right away, her mouth stuffed with the last of the muffin. 

Esme couldn’t help but beam. “I knew it! I knew it. I mean, Frankie told me it was him, but I had to hear it for myself. That bastard-” She stopped herself, remembering who she was talking to here. “So, was it good?”

“Uh… pardon?” Lola said, turning red in the face. Like she knew exactly what Esme was asking, but didn’t want to admit out loud.

“The sex. I mean, personally, I would give Miles a B+,” Esme said. She smirked and added, “But maybe that’s just the bitter aftertaste talking.”

Lola’s cheeks were all rosy. “I don’t have that much to compare it to, but I guess for a first time it could have been worse,” she said. “Oh, who am I kidding... it was pretty great.” She gave in and giggled as she finished her sentence.

“He won’t ever admit it, but I’m pretty sure everything he knows about female pleasure he learned from me,” Esme said. “But let’s spare his pride and not tell him I told you that.” She and Lola both laughed, suddenly just kind of letting everything go. 

“Do you know if it’s going to be a boy or a girl?” Esme asked after Lola had finally got herself together.

“A girl,” Lola answered, some warm pride in her voice. She laid a hand over her belly and smiled a little, then sighed, like she still couldn’t quite believe this was happening to her. 

“Any ideas for a name?” Esme followed up. 

Lola hesitated for a second, like she was debating whether or not to let Esme in on some big secret. Then, she leaned in close and whispered the name inside her ear.  
“Wait, are you serious? Like… from the play?” Esme said. Lola’s face dropped, like she suddenly regretted telling her. But then Esme’s expression softened and she added, “That’s a very pretty name for, hopefully — see what I did there? — a very talented little girl. I think it’s perfect.” 

Lola’s lips slowly formed into a smile. Esme smiled back and their gaze lingered for a second. Then, the bell rang.

“Oh no, now we have to go outside again,” Esme whined. 

Lola zipped her jacket up. She turned to open the car door, then paused for a second. “Thank you for this. I needed it.”

“Don’t mention it. Seriously, don’t tell anyone — I have a reputation to uphold, you know,” Esme said with a smirk. Lola smiled back. Then, they both hopped out of the car and into the rain, splitting paths again as if this never even happened.


End file.
